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Nebraska Football: Why the Huskers Can’t Replace Damore’ea Stringfellow

By Andrew Bienka

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A Nebraska football coach said “Hotty Toddy” at the College World Series this week. It appears that former Washington Huskies wide receiver Damore’ea Stringfellow was doing the same thing.

Yes, while he agreed to be a Husker transfer, the young man is no longer headed to Lincoln. He will instead make his hay with the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi. Worth noting in this ordeal is that a transfer agreement is binding for the school the student-athlete wants to attend, not the student-athlete.

This means that a transfer can change his mind up until the point of enrollment in classes.

So what does this mean for coaches Tim Beck and Rich Fisher when it comes to their wide receiver corps?

Well, they can’t replace Stringfellow, because they never had him in the first place.

I believe this means that the staff will be looking for one or two more pass catchers in the 2015 recruiting class to fill the scholarship slots now available because of Stringfellow and top 50 Major League Baseball draft pick Monte Harrison.

Of course, the Huskers will also be looking to replace senior wide receivers Kenny Bell and Jamal Turner after graduation.

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There’s even a candidate nearby: Bellevue West’s Clester Johnson Jr.

A Husker legacy (his father is Clester Johnson, Sr., a former Husker wingback), the younger Johnson could be in line for a scholarship offer that may not have come had the Big Red not lost out on the two aforementioned prospects.

As a junior, the Lincoln Journal Star named Johnson a Super-State split end. He accumulated 79 receptions resulting in 1,364 yards last season.

He already has scholarship offers from Western Michigan, Ohio, and Wyoming to go along with FCS powers South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

"“I just love Nebraska. I’ve grown up around it. Probably the greatest fans in the country. Walking out of that tunnel would be a great experience.” – interview with Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald."

For Nebraska football coaches that pound their chests about protecting the border and cultivating recruits from within a 500-mile radius, it would seem highly logical that Johnson Jr. would be a scholarship offer target at this point.

Looking to the present, the Huskers will need current underclassmen who will be the leaders of the team come 2015 to step up quickly. Specifically, I would hope to see two current sophomores on the roster make the leap. Jordan “Hail Mary Hero” Westerkamp and Alonzo Moore both ooze potential in Beck’s offense.

Westerkamp played in all 13 games during his redshirt freshman season finishing with 20 catches on the year for 283 yards.  He’s specifically focused on slot receiving thus far in his career. The idea of him moving around more as necessary is very likely.

Alonzo Moore, however, is coming off of surgery that kept him out of spring ball. His redshirt freshman season saw him play in 10 games with two starts. In 2014, Moore may stuck playing behind guys like Bell, Turner and Westerkamp.

However, one injury (or even multiple as 2013 brought) could push Moore into a larger role and keep him there. Any experience gathered this season will loom large in 2015 when the team will be sorely lacking in it.

The above quote from quarterback Tommy Armstrong’s twitter account must ring true. It’s great to know the leader of the offensive unit is ready for life without Stringfellow and isn’t complaining about it. There are plenty of weapons for Nebraska to use in order to compete for championships.

Besides, what’s the point of complaining about losing something you never truly had?

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